There are a lot of really greet positives that stand out and have been often repeated on this site:
- Free Lunch 3 days a week
- Flexible Work schedules, Summer Fridays, etc.
- Snack Wall
- Gym Reimbursement
- Xbox 360, Wii, Rockband, Foosball, etc.
- Friday Happy Hours
While all of the above make working at TripAdvisor a pleasure, they are only a small part of why I... enjoy working here. The work itself is exciting -- the cross section of travel and tech. is rapidly evolving and the # of players are constantly growing. I know its cliche, but I like how fast-paced the environment is and how transparent the results of my work can be. The popular motto "Speed Wins" can at times be tiresome to here, but there is a innate truth to it that fuels progress at the company. If you are the type of person that gets excited about coming up with an ideas and then figuring out how to bring them to market rapidly, this will be an excellent experience.
Ultimately, the best part of my time at TripAdvisor has been the people. When you spend at least 8 hours a day with a group of people, your happiness at work is dictated by not only the people you report to, but also the people you interact with regularly, whether its work related or at lunch and company happy hours. I've found the people I work with to be helpful, interesting, and most importantly, genuinely good people.

Show More

Cons

In terms of negatives, nothing stands out as an obvious negative. There are concerns though, that relate to different groups and can get in the way of you enjoying your job.
First and foremost, I think you need to take a long and hard look at who your manager is going to be and what his or her managing style is going to be like prior to taking a job at TripAdvisor. If you know people that work at TripAdvisor,... fully make use of that resource and try to understand as much about the group you are joining as you can. I believe you are in charge of managing your own career and the reason there are some mixed experiences at TripAdvisor is because different managers and different groups operate differently. Product is very different from Engineering which is in turn different from Mobile or New Initiatives. Some bosses are more hands on and others give you a bit more rope.
A second issue is career advancement. TripAdvisor is rapidly growing, which can be done in many different ways. Some of it has clearly been through acquiring other internet companies into the TripAdvisor Media Group umbrella, which, for the most part, will have no affect on your career. The second, which can be questionable is the hiring of middle/upper level management that tends to create new layers of the pyramid that didn't previously exist. How that would affect your own career progression is unclear at this point. I think it is critically important to have an open conversation with your manager about career progression before joining, and maintain that dialogue over the duration of your career.
Lastly, there is the issue of collaboration between groups and overarching oversight. I think as a whole, we do a very good job of pushing out new ideas and distributing responsibility between the groups. However, different groups sometimes have diametrically opposed goals which puts added pressure on upper management to determine the overall direction of the company. I think there could be better communication of the direction we want to take TripAdvisor over the next few years and more collaborative brainstorming that helped make people feel invested in the company as a whole, and not just the group we work in. For example, its easy for a group to feel that their only concern is to increase the # of subscriptions or referrals to a new product, but not enough work is done to communicate how your individual goals tie into the company's goals and determining where collaboration between groups can further progress for everyone.

Show More

Advice to Management

Continue to be diligent about hiring great talent with a passion for travel and tech. Moreover, don't be afraid to expand your recruiting network and reshape how you grow the company.

TripAdvisor is filled with incredibly smart people who are passionate about making travel planning a better experience. The caliber of people is not just exceptional, but we've got a "no assholes" policy - havig the skills to do the job is not enough - we have to feel we'd like to work with someone too.
The culture is fast-paced and embraces risk-taking to the point that if we don't have some major failures each... year, senior management says we're not pushing hard enough or teying enough new things. It's not just lip service - I've observed people who led high profile projects that didn't pan out have successful careers here so long as the thinking behind the project and the execution were good.
And who wouldn't want to spend all day thinking about travel? And user generated content and social networking - we're focused on some very fun areas, yet deadly serious about our success, which is strong.
Consumers LOVE TripAdvisor, which makes is really rewarding to put int he effort that we do. How many companies can say that?

Show More

Cons

Can be all consuming if you let it.
Not the place to go if you don't want your thinking challenged every day.